Shroud Of Turin Research Articles

On proto-photography and the Shroud of Turin

It seems generally agreed by historians of science and technology that photography is a procedure that could have been invented much earlier than the period when (to the best of our knowledge) it actually was.1 The essential prerequisites, both photochemical and optical, for a primitive accomplishment of the photographic effect were available at least three hundred years (some claim six hundred years) before the early nineteenth century, when the orthodox, documented history of photographic practice finds its beginnings.2 If magically transported back to the sixteenth century, many readers would be able to find the resources to set up then as photographers — of a sort. It is not surprising, therefore, that anachronistic claims are occasionally put forward for the ‘pre-invention’ of photography.

A problematic source of organic contamination of linen

Microscopic observations of a putative sample of linen from the Turin Shroud and samples of the linen wrapping of an Egyptian mummified ibis reveal that individual fibers of the cloth are surrounded by a coating produced by bacteria. Fungal material is also found among the threads. The question is whether the presence of this coating materially affects the age of cloth as obtained by carbon dating from what would be obtained if the actual cellulose of the flax from which the linen was made was dated. In particular what would be the affect on the age of the Turin Shroud? To obtain some answers to this question AMS radiocarbon measurements were made at the NSF Arizona AMS Facility at the University of Arizona on the collagen in bone and tissue samples from this ibis and of samples of the linen wrapping of the ibis cleaned by standard methods.

Attempt to Affect the Apparent 14C Age of Cotton by Scorching in a CO2 Environment

One explanation for the radiocarbon dates on the Shroud of Turin being younger than the time of Christ is that the heat from a fire, which scorched a portion of the Shroud, may have affected the 14C content (dates) on the shroud by affecting molecular exchange between the fabric and atmospheric carbon. This report describes a laboratory test on the susceptibility of cellulose, in the form of cotton, to incorporate carbon from CO2 while it is heated in a closed tube with carbon dioxide until the cotton considerably darkened. To maximize the effect of this hypothetical process, we simulated the shroud material with cotton that had a 14C level of 0.55 modern (55 pMC, equivalent to 4800 yr), and the atmosphere with pure CO2, which had a 14C level of 1.3 modern (130 pMC). No measurable 14C transferred from the gas phase to the solid phase. The implication of this test is that scorching is an unlikely mechanism to affect the apparent age of cellulose-like material.

The Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth with but a faint image, continues to capture the interest of many people of diverse beliefs. Although the measured age of the cloth is relatively recent, other scientific findings indicate an earlier provenance. Any firm conclusions regarding the cloth's history remain premature. No satisfactory explanation has been found as yet for how the image on the cloth was produced structurally or stylistically. Iconographic evidence suggests that the image was the source of facial peculiarities found in early works of religious art. The body image bears a striking yet preternatural correlation with Scriptural accounts of wounds. Curiously, the image on the cloth functions as a photographic negative, exhibiting a high degree of resolution, as if the original were produced in pixels. Despite serious efforts to discover some artistic origin md medium, scientific evidence points in the direction that it was not produced by hands. If it is tme that the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan wrote, then the Turin Shroud may be a parable for the modern age.

An Experiment to Refute the Likelihood of Cellulose Carboxylation

To test the hypothesis that cellulose in linen can be carboxylated at high temperatures in the presence of CO2, water and silver, we heated two aliquots of cellulose extracted from old wood in glass ampoules, adding Ag powder to one to test its potential action as a catalyst for the carboxylation reaction. AMS measurement of the heated aliquots showed no statistically significant difference in 14C content from the “uncarboxylated” cellulose. We conclude that carboxylation is not a systematic source of error in the dating of cellulose-containing materials such as the linen in the Shroud of Turin.

Consensus Dating of Mammoth Remains from Wrangel Island

Previous results from remains of tusks, teeth and bones collected from Wrangel Island (Vartanyan et al. 1995) had given results in the range 3730 bp to 20,000 bp and the authors had concluded that “mammoths inhabited Wrangel Island for as long as 6000 yr after the estimated extinction on the Siberian continent”. There still remained the question of the earliest date for such remains. Further, the authors had noted such samples may present some difficulty in dating and therefore duplicate samples had been measured in a second laboratory with satisfactory results. The replicate dating of important or controversial samples in more than one laboratory is well-established (e.g., Turin Shroud) and in this paper, we present results for 5 mammoth samples dated by 6 laboratories. Such interlaboratory comparisons provide an independent means of verification of laboratory comparability, and give added confidence in the results, particularly when applied to more controversial samples. A further objective of the work has been to evaluate the material for inclusion in any large-scale interlaboratory comparison, such comparisons having in the past formed part of laboratory quality assurance protocols. The design and organization of a laboratory intercomparison requires homogeneous samples in sufficient quantity to satisfy participants, and so in principle, a single mammoth tusk would meet these criteria. Samples such as the mammoth tusk have been used in previous intercomparisons: e.g., in the last large-scale international intercomparison (Gulliksen and Scott 1995), whalebone was one of the materials distributed. One of the key advantages of such material is that a single sample (a mammoth tusk) can be resampled for analysis by multiple labs and thus does not require bulk homogenization. Therefore, as part of a preselection process for a future intercomparison, five samples from separate mammoth tusks were collected from Wrangel Island in 1995 in sufficient quantity to allow multiple dating. The aim was to identify five separate samples of young age, sample up to 1 kg from each tusk and mark the location so that after preliminary dating, samples could be retrieved as required in the future. Six laboratories received samples for dating. The paper will discuss the results from the laboratories, present consensus values, and make recommendations concerning use of these samples in a future laboratory intercomparison.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,Professor R. E. Taylor, in his review for R adiocarbon of my book Relic, Icon or Hoax? Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud (Taylor 1997) noted that I had incorrectly used the word “invent” and its derivatives in connection with the origins of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). A more accurate description of the development of AMS is to be found in the papers that I co-authored (Gove, Litherland and Purser 1987) and authored (Gove 1992) prior to publication of my book. Who actually “invented” AMS is not clear. Certainly, strong contenders are L. W. Alvarez and R. Cornog (Alvarez and Cornog 1939) and K. H. Purser (Purser 1977). The contributions made by Purser, A. E. Litherland and me to the development of AMS were recognized by Pergamon Press in 1980 when the Board of Editors of the International Journal of Applied Radiation and Isotopes (JARI) voted to give us the first JARI award. I should note that neither of my two colleagues with whom I was involved in the development of AMS, Professor Litherland nor Dr. Purser, saw a copy of my book before publication. If they had, this unintended contretemps would not have occurred.Yours sincerely,

Backcloth of mystery

Relic, Icon or Hoax? Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud by H. E. Gove Institute of Physics Publishing: 1996. Pp. 336. £19.50, $35

Factors Affecting the Apparent Radiocarbon Age of Textiles: A Comment on “Effects of Fires and Biofractionation of Carbon Isotopes on Results of Radiocarbon Dating of Old Textiles: The Shroud of Turin”, by D. A. Kouznetsov et al.

Cet article est une reponse a un papier publie dans ce numero de JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE (Vol. 23, N°1, pp.109-121, Janvier 1996) concernant les effets du feu sur la cellulose des tissus et leur impact sur la datation par radiocarbone de ces memes tissus en general, et du Suaire de Turin en particulier

Miracles and the Shroud of Turin

Miracles and the Shroud of Turin

Effects of fires and biofractionation of carbon isotopes on results of radiocarbon dating of old textiles: the Shroud of Turin

A laboratory model especially created to “reproduce”, i.e. to simulate the physical/chemical conditions of the 1532 Chambéry fire was developed for the purpose of determining experimentally the probability that fire-induced chemical modifications of the Turin Shroud textile cellulose had occurred and evaluating its possible impact on the radiocarbon dating results. In these studies, both old Russian and old Middle Eastern (En Gedi, Israel, bc100– ad100) linen textile samples were tested by near-IR reflectance spectrophotometry, field ionization/field desorption mass spectrometry, and conventional AMS analysis. We found that the different fire-simulating model conditions were able to promote the carboxylation of unscreened OH-groups in textile cellulose molecules. This carboxylation process involves carbon-containing combustion gases, CO and CO 2, in the presence of silver cations, water and heat. As a result, a significant additional amount of 14C and 13C atoms incorporate into the textile cellulose structure as a portion of carboxy-groups. Radiocarbon ages of experimental textile samples incubated under fire-simulating conditions have been estimated by the common AMS technique with correction for C-isotopes fractionation. As seen from the resulting data, fire-induced carboxylation, i.e. “carbonization”, of the textile cellulose, leads to a significant error in the radiocarbon dating results. The extent and mechanism of this phenomenon as well as the problem of accuracy and the limitations of the radiocarbon method are discussed. All experimental data and theoretical statements presented in this work deal with the re-evaluation of the Shroud of Turin dating results obtained by Damon et al. using a conventional radiocarbon approach.

Image formation on the Shroud of Turin<BR> The reactive oxygen intermediates hypothesis

Image formation on the Shroud of Turin<BR> The reactive oxygen intermediates hypothesis

How Leonardo did not fake the Shroud of Turin

(1995). How Leonardo did not fake the Shroud of Turin. de arte: Vol. 30, No. 52, pp. 32-39.

Leonardo DaVinci: The First Photographer?

Abstract Some 350 years before the invention of photography, Leonardo DaVinci may very well have produced the first photograph - the Shroud of Turin. This extraordinary hypothesis attracted shroud experts Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, and their efforts to prove or disprove this theory resulted in their recent book Turin Shroud. During their shroud investigations, the authors delved deeply into historical lore, piecing together diverse facts and opinions including those of such figures as the Knights of Templar, alchemists, secret societies, and even Pope innocent VIII. The authors provided convincing evidence that the shroud could have been produced using photograph i c -like techniques that were within the identified capabilities of DaVinci. Most importantly, the authors were able to recreate shroud "look-alike" images with materials and techniques believed to be available to, or devised by, Leonardo DaVinci in the creation of the Turin Shroud.

In vitro culture of porcine embryos: Development to blastocysts after in vitro fertilization (IVF) with flow cytometrically sorted and unsorted semen

The presence of a “invisible mending” has been proposed as an explanation for medieval radiocarbon dating measurements made on the Shroud of Turin. Here we show that the chemical analysis which was to support this theory is not consistent, and no scientific data confirm these speculations. Specifically, the samples of the Shroud image fibers underwent a different cleaning procedure with regards to those allegedly belonging to the medieval mending. There is no reliable indication of the supposedly diagnostic compounds (e.g. gum Arabic, pentoses). The only detectable difference between the samples is the presence of a compound with an aliphatic chain which cannot be identified more in detail, e.g. as sebum.

Fake? The Art of Deception

What is a fake and why are fakes made? Did the forgers of the Turin Shroud and Piltdown Man have the same motives? Does a famous Vermeer cease to be beautiful when it turns out to be a Van Meegeren? Is the Piranesi Vase an eighteenth-century masterpiece or a faked-up antique? Fakes, argue the contributors to this volume, have always been unjustly neglected, especially given the unparalleled evidence they provide of the values and perceptions of both those who make them and those who commission them.Included in this major survey of fakes and forgeries from ancient Babylonia to the present day are more than 600 objects from the British Museum and other outstanding collections. There are spectacular fakes once hailed as masterpieces of ancient and modern art. There are musical instruments and manuscripts, Chinese bronzes and Chelsea porcelain. There are literary and documentary frauds and political forgeries that have changed the course of history. Both the methods of making fakes and the recent scientific advances in their detection are described, but many puzzles remain. The book concludes with a discussion of intriguing cases like the Vinland Map, the Aztec rock-crystal skull, and the mysterious discoveries at Glozel, which continue to perplex curator, historian, and scientist alike.

David Hume and the Mysterious Shroud of Turin

In a footnote to ‘Of Miracles’, David Hume defined the miraculous as ‘… a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent.’ In the opening pages of the essay itself, however, Hume dropped the reference to agency in favour of the simpler declaration that any ‘ … miracle is a violation of the laws of nature …’ This preference for the simpler formulation was deliberate. According to Hume, it was their violation of natural law that provided the genuinely intimidating obstacle against miracles. As the course of his argument makes clear, Hume believed that the massive accumulation of evidence supporting the regularity of nature invariably would overwhelm any meagre reports to the contrary. For this reason alone, questions of divine agency could be ignored as purely academic.

The Shroud of Turin: blood or artist's pigment?

The Shroud of Turin: blood or artist's pigment?

The Holy Shroud of Turin

The Holy Shroud of Turin

Let's Take Another Look at the Shroud of Turin

Let's Take Another Look at the Shroud of Turin